


We'll Play Hide And Seek To Turn This Around

by brokenhighways, Yellowwolf



Series: Librarian!Jensen [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 21:04:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellowwolf/pseuds/Yellowwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a single parent to an almost one year old isn't always easy. And for Jared Padalecki that includes bringing back books to the library as well as his lack of social life. So when the cute librarian Jensen starts making his fines go away Jared’s can't help being a little...cautious. What is it that Jensen wants from him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Play Hide And Seek To Turn This Around

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: This started off as me trying to coerce yellowwolf5 back into writing j2 but I failed (dammit) but liked what she had so far so I finished it off. Title is from "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran

It takes a letter from his local library to remind Jared that he’s failed to bring his books back on time.  _Again._  Jared groans and presses the letter to his forehead, hoping that having the titles plastered to his head might actually make him remember where he left the books last. See, bringing his books back on time would probably be less of a problem if his apartment wasn’t such a mess all of the time.

  
To be fair, half the mess isn’t even his fault. It pretty much comes with the territory of raising an almost one year old by himself. There are toys of various sizes and designs littered across his living room, along with a couple of books (sadly not the ones he rented) and empty dinner plates (which, yes, are his fault entirely).  
  
Generally, when he comes home from the garage, with his little girl in his arms, his first priority is not clean up but make sure that they’re both fed, that Aimee is happy and can fall asleep. Her room, by comparison, is completely clean. He’ll be damned if he lets his daughter sleep in a messy room. He can’t say the same for his own bedroom.  
  
Jared sighs and puts the letter down on the table, making sure, again, that the baby monitor is working and decides he might as well tackle the living room now and find the damn books before he loses the letter too and they have to send him another one.  _Again._  
  
They’re cookbooks so they shouldn’t be all that hard to locate, they should stick out like a sore thumb between the toys and kid’s books, except that apparently, they don’t. When he’s got the living room cleaned to a respectable standard, he still hasn’t found the books. Frowning, he checks his book shelf again, but nope, they’re not there.  
  
Where the hell would he keep – Oh, god.  
  
He doesn’t smack himself on the forehead but it’s a close call. He trots into the kitchen and starts opening drawers until he finds the cookbooks in one of them, belatedly remembering that he’d put it there when he’d actually attempted to cook something more or less sophisticated (and failed miserable.) Cookbooks, kitchen. Duh.  
  
It’s just another sign of how sleep deprived he is that his brain didn’t leap to such a logical conclusion in the first place. On the bright side, though, his living room is no longer a mess.  
  
He puts the cookbooks on the small table in the hallway so he doesn’t forget to take them with him tomorrow. He figures he can bring back the books, after dropping off Aimee with Sophia at the daycare center and before heading into work at the auto-repair shop.  
  
With that task out of the way, he sags down on the couch and closes his eyes, feeling the instant pull of fatigue trying to drag him under.  
  
He loves his daughter, with all his heart, and he’s glad he didn’t let Sarah put her up for adoption, but it’s exhausting. Between a demanding job and taking care of an infant, his energy levels are starting to get very low. It’s fortunate he has Sophia to help him. They’d been friends for the better part of ten years and she keeps helping him out, letting Aimee stay with her longer if he needs her to, but then, she’s Aimee’s godmother, so she loves having her over.  
  
He forces his eyes open, remembering the laundry basket he can’t ignore anymore.  
  
\--  
  
The library is still mostly deserted when Jared gets in, with the cookbooks tucked firmly under his arms and an apologetic smile on his face as he approaches the front desk.  
  
The librarian,  _Jensen_  his brain reminds him, is staring at something on his computer, squinting at the screen even though he has glasses perched on his nose. Jensen looks up when he approaches.  
  
“Hi,” Jared says.  
  
Jensen leans back in his chair and glances up at him. “I’m surprised you’re not banned from borrowing books yet, seeing as how you never manage to bring them back on time.”  
  
Jared has the good grace to look a little guilty. So maybe it’s not just the fact that he has a kid that makes him be late. He tends to forget to bring his books back in time in general, but this time, it really was because he was genuinely busy and not because he couldn’t be bothered to give them back.  
  
“There were extenuating circumstances this time.”  
  
Jensen makes a non-committal noise and holds his hands out for the books, so he can scan them and see how much his fine is. Resigned, Jared hands the books over and reaches for his wallet, flipping it open and awaiting the verdict.  
  
Jensen glances up, opening his mouth to tell him the fine when his eyes catch on the picture in his wallet. Jared glances down to see Aimee’s smiling face beam back and he can’t help but smile himself.  
  
“Yours?” Jensen asks.  
  
Jared nods. “Aimee. She turns one next month. God, it’s just flying by so fast,” he says, smiling ruefully. Jensen’s face seems to brighten up then and he smiles back.  
  
“I bet she’s a handful.”  
  
“Understatement of the century!” Jared exclaims with a grin. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way”. Jensen nods slightly as he looks back at his computer screen and starts to type something in. Jared reschools his face back into a subdued expression and mentally scolds himself for babbling about his kid once again. Jensen probably has to hear that too many times a day, what with working in a library and—  
  
“Will you be needed anything else?” Jensen cuts into Jared’s bumbling thoughts, his eyes expectant as he looks up at Jared.  
  
“Uh, no…I’m just here to pay the fine so that I have one less thing to worry about”. He smiles again, but it’s more of a ‘can-we-get-this-show-on-the-road’ smile than his normally friendly smile. He’s tired  _and_ he’s got Sophia watching Aimee back at his apartment. All he really wants to do right now is sleep. Preferably for a week.  
  
“It’s fine, I’ve sorted it out.” Jared blinks as Jensen adjusts his glasses and sort of blushes. It’s kind of cute in a way but Jared’s still confused about why Jensen won’t let him just pay the fine.  
  
“Seriously?” is all he can say and Jensen waves his hand nonchalantly.  
  
“Just make sure you bring your books back on time from now on, mmkay?” Jared opens his mouth to reply but he sees that Jensen’s gone back to tapping away at his computer so he turns to leave.  
  
Jensen kind of weird, he muses to himself as he exits the library. But he shrugs it off and goes home so he can see his little girl.  
  
~*~  
  
Four weeks later, and this time Jared’s got Sophia and Aimee in tow. Sophia’s got some date tonight and Jared had offered to drive her over to the restaurant. Unfortunately he’d come across the letter from the library crumpled under his seat and couldn’t really afford to rack up another huge late fee. Aimee’s fussing around in his arms as he walks over to the desk. There’s quite a lengthy queue and Jared sighs as he checks his watch. He turns to Sophia and practically flings his keys at her,  
  
“Here, take my car and go,” he says. “I’ll swing by and pick it up later!” Sophia protests at first but gives in eventually and with a wave she leaves.  
  
“Bye!” Aimee says loudly, and it makes Jared smile a little even though the two words that she pretty much knows at the moment are basically hi and bye. However, some people in the line in front of them turn to glare at Jared and he glares right back. Assholes. Twenty minutes later, he eventually reaches the front of the queue. It’s not that long, but for all of Aimee’s whining and fussing, it feels like he’s been waiting for an hour. Right now she’s tucked into his shoulder as he holds her up, her brown hair scattered all over the front of his jacket. She seems to sense that they’ve reached the desk because she turns and says,  
  
“Hi!” really loudly to a bemused looking Jensen. Jared flushes slightly as Jensen says,  
  
“Uh, are you here to bring back your books?” Jared nods slowly because surely it’s obvious after he has the books right….in his car which Sophia’s taken. Along with Aimee’s pushchair. Shit. “Which you don’t seem to have…” Before Jared can respond Aimee starts to shift in his arms again and Jared sighs to himself.  
  
“May I?” Jensen ask suddenly as he gestures towards Aimee and Jared can’t help the way his eyes widen in surprise. He didn’t really have Jensen down as the kids kind of guy.  
  
“Uh, sure,” he says as he hands her over. She’s usually well-behaved with people she’s not familiar with so he supposes that it’s okay. That and his freaking arms are  _killing_  him from where Aimee’s tiny boots have struck him. The sound of his daughter giggling snaps Jared out of his thoughs and he looks up to see Jensen pulling silly faces at her. It sends a kind of tingly feeling echoing through Jared’s stomach as he watches them. He’s never really taken the time to look at him. Jensen’s got light brown hair that’s kind of stylishly spiked up, he’s wear a smart blue sweater and Jared can see vibrant green eyes through those glasses and he has  _freckles_. Jared kind of falls a little, right there and then. Aimee giggles again and he snaps out of reverie. He’s had all of two dates since his daughter was born. Both were nice guys but they’d both backed off when they’d learnt that he had a kid. So he’s suddenly wary about Jensen. With a sigh,  
  
“I don’t suppose I can pay my fine now and bring the books in tomorrow?” he pulls his wallet out and looks up to see Jensen putting a sticker on Aimee’s tiny, red hoodie. His stomach lurches again.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Jensen says easily. “I better get back to work”. He leans forward and hands Aimee back over to Jared. Jared’s too tired to protest and he leaves the library once again as his daughter yells “Bye!” once again.  
  
~*~  
  
Jared’s got the next day off so he pops into the library at around lunchtime with his books. He spends sometime browsing through the cooking section – hey, one recipe has to work out for him sometime right? – before he makes his way over to the desk. Jensen’s sitting there again and Jared wonders if he ever goes home. In fact Jensen wonders if he even has legs. Which would be weird if he didn’t and—  
  
“Penny for your thoughts?” Jensen asks with a small smile.  
  
“I was just wondering if you—“ Jared cuts himself off before he can embarrass himself. “Was just wondering if you’d help me find a book”. He doesn’t really need anymore books but it’s a good a request as any as he smiles as Jensen says “Sure, what are you after?” as he stands up and walks around to the front of the desk.  
  
“Uh, an education...book. You know for when Aimee has to start.”  
  
“Right, you’re not one of those parents that has their child on a school list five years in advance are you?” it’s said in a joking tone but Jared can’t help the stab of worry that reverberates through him. He’s not the young man from a year ago with a warm bundle in his arms that he had no clue what do with, but being a single parent is hard especially when you hadn’t even really stopped to consider kids before.  
  
“Uh, should I?” he asks and the panic must be evident in his voice because Jensen places a hand on his arm and says,  
  
“Nothing’s ever set in stone, even for those kinds of parents. You’re a good dad to Aimee from what I’ve seen”. There’s no way Jensen could know that but Jared is grateful for the compliment. He ignores the butterflies fluttering in his stomach as the warmth of Jensen’s hand seeps through his shirt. He momentarily fantasisies about what it’d be like to bunch up Jensen’s impeccable sweater with his hand while dragging him in for a kiss. Which is of course the moment Jensen picks to ask,  
  
“I’m sure you and your wife will figure it out anyway.”  
  
“My wife?” Jared echoes in a slightly startled tone and Jensen nods,  
  
“She came in with you yesterday right?” Jared frowns for a moment before realisation dawns in his eyes.  
  
“Oh, you mean Sophia. God, no...she’s just a friend. I raise Aimee on my own – with Sophia’s help – her mother’s not really on the scene anymore”.  
  
“Bad breakup?”  
  
“More like, we hooked up once and she got pregnant.”  
  
“Ouch.”  
  
“Ha, yeah. We tried to make a go of it but then I found her with pamphlets on adoption and just, it kind of crumbled. I haven’t seen her since Aimee was born.”  
  
“It’s too bad,” Jensen says. “She’s a great kid”.  
  
“Yeah,” Jared agrees with a grin. “I can’t imagine my life without her”  
  
~*~  
  
A couple of weeks later and Jared finds himself having a guy’s night out with his best friend Chad. He’s midway through telling Chad about how Jensen keeps on waiving his late fees when Chad stops him with a raised hand.  
  
“Dude. You like him don’t you?” he says excitedly. Jared frowns then and says,  
  
“Uh, yeah. He’s a nice guy”.  
  
“No,” Chad says. “I mean you  _like_  like him. You just spent like twenty minutes talking about him. I don’t even know the names of any of the librarians.”  
  
“Okay, maybe I do,” Jared admits. “I have Aimee to think about.”  
  
“Man, I’m surprised that your dick hasn’t even fallen off yet.”  
  
“I’m disturbed that my dick is cause for your concern,” Jared says as he takes a swig of his beer. The music in the bar is at a reasonable volume and the chatter around them is mostly a distant hum. It feels good to get out every now and then and it’s always been enough for Jared. He doesn’t need a boyfriend, doesn’t  _want_ a distraction.  
  
“Dude, come on! Having a kid doesn’t mean that you need to take up some  sort of vow of celibacy!”  
  
“Oh how would you know?” Jared snaps because it’s easy for Chad to say.  
  
“Because I know you well enough to know that you’d put your little girl first if it came to it and because you’re my friend and you deserve to be happy,” Chad pauses as he looks at Jared. “And I don’t want you to miss out on what could be the best thing that ever happened to you”.  
  
There’s a pause as Jared looks back at his best friend with a raised eyebrow.  
  
“Too sappy?” Chad asks with a grimace and Jared nods as he does his best not to burst into racuous laughter.  
  
“Aww,you love me” he crows.  
  
“I hate you, stupid fucker.” Is what Chad grumbles under his breath. Jared knows him well enough to see the response for what it is.  
  
~*~  
  
Despite Chad's encouragement - mostly in the form of lewd text messages - Jared's doubts and misgivings prevent him from thinking about the whole Jensen situation for a while. And somewhere in the middle of that, Aimee turns one and finally takes her first steps. It's only when he's cleaning out his room one weekend that he finds a book that's almost a month overdue. Shit, he thinks as he glances at his watch. It's about 40 minutes until the library shuts and he sighs to himself as he grabs his wallet and keys. Aimee's with Sophia, so he doesn't have to worry about getting her ready and he rushes out. He's still in his worn out hoodie and flip flops but, hey it's not like he's trying to impress anyone.  
  
"Jared!" Jensen practically beams at him and Jared gets that tingly feeling again and he sighs softly. It starts to rain then, heavy drops of rain pounding down hard on the Windows. Suddenly he regrets not changing his shoes, even though he drove here.  
  
"Hey," he says easily. "how've you been man".  
  
"Good. Just leave your book on the desk and I'll sort it out"  
  
"What about the fine?" he asks even though he knows what Jensen is going to say.  
  
"Don't worry about it." Jared looks at Jensen questioningly then and Jensen stares back. It dawns on him then that they're the only ones here. Heck, even the security guard is gone. He could kiss Jensen right here and now, push him down onto his desk and ----- whoa, whoa. Enough of that, he scolds himself.  
  
"Dude, I appreciate it but...won't your manager mind?"  
  
"Nah," Jensen says with a shrug. “Who’s gonna miss petty change in fines”.  
  
“Oh I don’t know,” Jared says. “There’s never any toilet paper in the bathroom” Jensen snorts at that.  
  
“I’ll do my best to rectify that.” And it clicks then, Jensen’s  _always_  here. He seems to be able to let Jared off each time with not real consequences...  
  
“You’re the manager right?” he asks and Jensen smiles wryly.  
  
“I’m more of a managing supervisor,” he replies. “It’s a lot less technical than it sounds.” The rain seems to be coming down harder now and Jared clicks his tongue as he looks back at Jensen,  
  
“Hope you’re not going home in that.”  
  
“’Fraid so,” Jensen says. “My car jacked up a few weeks ago. I figured that I could do with the exercise.”  
  
“Are you kidding?” Jared says. “You look great!” And okay, maybe Jared should think before he talks because Jensen tilts his head at him and just  _looks_ at him and there’s that charged feeling in the air again and for a second he thinks Jensen might kiss him or something. He tells himself it’s not disappointment he feels when Jensen excuses himself a few seconds later.  
  
“You should ask him out,” Sophia says later that evening after she’s dragged out the whole story from Jared. “I mean, what have you got to lose, right?”  
  
“God, not you too,” Jared groans. “I’ve already got Chad on my case”. She looks like she wants to say more but she just gives him a look and changes the subject.  
  
   
  
~*~  
  
“You know, we have a children’s play area here. If you ever wanted to sit down and say, read the paper or something” Jensen says when Jared’s next returning his books. Jensen doesn’t mention a fine and Jared doesn’t say anything this time. It’s been about four months of this and he’s just... _tired_. Work’s been kicking his ass, ever since one of the other mechanics left and on top of juggling with Aimee he just feels like shit.  
  
“That actually sounds kind of nice,” Jared says. “Maybe next time”.  
  
~*~  
  
Of course that’s when Jensen starts to mess with his head even more. He’s sitting in the newspaper section idly flipping through the New York Times when he hears peals of laughter. The library isn’t all that huge, so he can pretty much see the play area from where’s he’s sitting and he looks over to see Jensen reading aloud from a book. He strains to hear better and he’s able to make out Jensen doing the voices and even acting out some parts and he can’t help the smile that forms on his face.  
  
Afterwards, when he’s got Aimee strapped in her pushchair he finally asks the question,  
  
“So, why is it that you keep on waiving my late fee?” Jensen turns red, even right down to the tip of ears and it’s kind of adorable. But Jared’s solely focused on what the answer is so he waits expectantly. Jensen clears his throat and says,  
  
“Well...it was supposed to be something I’d do until you agreed to go on date with me,” he pauses as he looks down. “But I haven’t gotten around to asking yet. Obviously”.  
  
“And why’s that?” Jared can’t help asking.  
  
“Wasn’t sure if you’d say yes?” it comes out like a question and Jared can’t help laughing.  
  
“Isn’t that the point of asking?”  
  
“Maybe I’m asking now,” Jensen’s grinning now and Jared smiles back. “What’s it gonna be?”  
  
“Hmmm,” Jared says as he pretends to contemplate it deeply. “I think that I’m going to need a grander declaration of interest.”  
  
“You mean me not making you pay your fines isn’t impressive enough? Damn. I gotta up  my game.”  
  
Jared just laughs again.  
  
~*~  
  
Things are going easily enough for a while. Jared accidentally invites Jensen to the movie theater. It’s some animated children’s movie that Jared can’t even remember now and Jensen had come along with him and they’d spent the entire time chatting quietly in the most empty screen room. And in turn, Jensen invites him and Aimee for dinner a couple of days after that. It’s not quite dating but...Jared loves that Jensen doesn’t seem to be ignoring the fact that he’s a single dad with baggage. He’s just accepting Jared for who he is.  
  
Jared finds himself in library practically every other day after that. He and Jensen don’t really talk about the fact that he basically blew him off but they continue to strike up a friendship all the same. Jared actually fixes Jensen car for him – free of charge – thus cancelling out the late fees.  
  
“You gotta try harder, if you want a piece of this.” Jared jokes and Jensen just smiles at  him but doesn’t say much. And really, flirting aside, Jared can tell that Jensen likes him. It’s in his eyes, his smile and the way he  _looks_ at Jared. But Jensen hasn’t mentioned them dating, or relationships or anything and it’s driving Jared crazy. They’ve been hanging out together outside of the library as well both with and without Aimee and...it’s almost as though Jensen’s a fully fledged part of his life. Jared can’t stand the thought that his indecision and doubt could essentially come between anything that they might have.  
  
So he decides to help things along a little.  
  
~*~  
  
“This is a stupid plan,” Is what Chad says when Jared details the whole thing to him as they get ready for a night out. “Also that shirt is ugly. Pick another one.”  
  
“I’m not sure what unsettles me the most,  _you_  thinking that my plan is stupid, or you giving me fashion advice,” Jared says. “Can we start this conversation again?”  
  
“Look, you can’t just mess with the guy like that. You either ask him out or you wait, don’t lead him on dude”. Jared sighs to himself because Chad’s right. But he’s still unsure about committing himself to any relationship right now. “Look I get it. Your last relationship was a mess, and then you had that ONS with that crazy chick and ended up with a kid. No one’s blaming you for having doubts”.  
  
“Wow,” Jared says. “Have you been taking meth or something?” Chad whacks him on the arm lightly as he glares at him.  
  
“Shut it asshole,” he mock growls and then quieter. “Don’t let what’s happened in the past dictate what happens now”. Jared just nods and ignores the sudden lump in his throat.  
  
~*~  
  
Jensen brings along his friend Chris to the bar. At first Jared thinks that Chris is his boyfriend but 20 variations of “ _look at the chick’s rack/ass”_  soon sets him straight. Chris fires off a bunch of questions at Jared for a while but eventually he slaps him on the back and declares him to ‘ _alright_ ’. Jensen just rolls his eyes at his friend while Jared gives Chris a bemused look.  
  
And all in all it’s a pretty good night. Somewhere along the way, Chad manages to talk Jared out his ‘stupid plan’. Apparently he’s too nice to lead a guy on. Jared kind of hates the fact that his best friend is right. So they ending up trading their stories about Aimee and Jensen regales them with some of the drama that he regularly sees at the library. Jared laughs so hard one point that he snorts beer out his nose and Chad gives him a disgusted look, but follows it up with a discrete thumbs up.  
  
In the end, Chad vanishes and sends Jared a text  saying that he’s going home with some girl called Crystal and Chris ends up playing in a rather heated game of pool. Jared offers to walk Jensen home and he obliges. They don’t talk much on the way home, but’s it’s more a comfortable than awkward silence. Jensen's about to unlock his door when Jared loses the internal battle that he's been having with himself. It’s his move, he knows that. And just this once, he’s going to stop being so doubtful and just go for what he wants.  
  
"Wait," he says softly, heartbeat rising as Jensen turns around. He steps forward and cups Jensen's face with his hands. "I forgot to do this." and he leans down and captures Jensen's lips with his. Jensen's hand snakes it's way up until he is gripping Jared's jacket tightly. The kiss deepens and becomes more heated as Jared slams Jensen against the door. Tongues tangling as they take over each others space completely. A phone starts ringing and Jared ignores it as he licks into Jensen's mouth again, not caring that they're out here in the open where anyone can see them. But a tug on his sleeve pulls him out of his Jensen induced haze.  
  
"You should get that,might be important." His full lips are dark red and swollen and the last thing he wants to is pick up his phone. He does anyway.  
  
"Jared!" Sophia sounds kind of panicky and Jared takes a step back as he tries to regain his bearings. "She just stormed in and she's refusing to leave!"  
  
"Who are you talking about?" Jared asks. "Is Aimee okay?"  
  
"She's fine, and I'm talking about Sarah. She turned up like an hour ago and refused to leave." Jared feels a surge of anger thrumming through his veins as he tells Sophia that he'll be there in twenty minutes. As he turns to Jensen, he smiles apologetically,  
  
"Something's come up," he says. "I have to go home...maybe you could come with me? Aimee's mom's just turned up out of the blue, demanding to see her. The fucking nerve". Jared runs a hand through his hair as he tries not to get too worked up over this. Legally she has every right to see Aimee, and even take her away...  
  
"Come on,"Jensen says as he slips his hand into Jared's and holds onto it gently. "Let's go".  
  
   
  
When they get there, Sarah's outside sitting on the front step with her head in her hands. She looks up when she hears them. It's fall and they're crunching leaves with each step they take. Her face is tear stained and Jared catches her looking at their joined hands for a split second.  
  
"Jared," she greets him quiety. "You look good".  
  
“Like you care,” he mumbles angrily just as the front door opens. Sophia looks happy to see him and she beckons Jared’s in.  
  
“Aimee’s up,” she says quietly. “I think all the noise unsettled her”. They all file into the living room of Jared’s modest apartment and for a second he starts to feel a little self conscious. Sarah’s wearing old sweat pants and gray hooded top and she’s clutching a bottle of water in her hands. Jensen’s standing by the couch with an uncomfortable look on his face and Jared sighs to himself. Fucking great.  Jensen’s probably mentally celebrating the fact that he’s not actually got himself involved in this mess yet.  
  
“I just want to see her,” Sarah says. “I have a  _right_  to see her”.  
  
“Maybe me and Sophia should go check on Aimee.” Jared doesn’t even turn around to look at them but the sound of footsteps tells him that they’re gone.  
  
“You lost all right to see her the second you told me you were going out to buy milk - or whatever the hell it was - and never came back again.”  
  
“And I’m sorry for that,” she says. “But I never forgot about her just...I know it was her birthday a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to see her.”  
  
“That’s just not good enough...” Jared hesitates as he looks over at the direction of the bedrooms. “I’m not going to let you take her away from me” Sarah snorts at that, actually snorts like...they’re not even in the middle of a a serious discussion.  
  
“I’m not here to take her away from you, God look...I’m sure that you’re doing a better job with her than I ever could.” She sounds sincere enough but there’s just a  _tiny_ part of Jared that doesn’t believe her. This isn’t the girl he knew from that stressful and at times unbearable year. She was downright selfish and irritating. Jared practically had to  _beg_  her not to go through with the adoption. So none of this sits well for him, he’s not going to let her just walk in whenever he likes. If he does it once, he’s  inviting her to do it again.  
  
“Since when did you care about being an adult? Do you even remember how I met you?” She’s angry now and Jared knows that they’re not going to get anywhere.  
  
“You know, if you’re not serious about seeing your daughter, you know where the door is,” Jared says, trying to keep his voice low. “You shouldn’t have come here on a whim and just expected me  to welcome you in with open arms”.  
  
“Whatever Jared,” she hisses. “You’ve  _always_  been unfair to me!”  
  
“You know what? This isn’t about  _you._ I could care less how you feel. You’re not going anywhere near my daughter. I don’t care what you do”.  
  
“Fine,” she practically spits the word out. “This isn’t the last of this”. She strides over to the door opens it, and leaves as she slams the door in her wake. Jared’s only just started to calm himself down when he hears the familiar sounds of his kid crying.  
  
Great.  
  
Eventually he sends Sophia and Jensen on their way, insisting that he’ll be fine. Sophia says that she’ll be around as usual and Jensen says that he’ll give Jared a call. He’s too tired to even think about what  _that_  means. He just picks Aimee up and holds her tightly, her brown curls tickling his face.  
  
“It’s okay baby,” he murmurs softly. “We’re going to be okay.”  
  
~*~  
  
Jensen doesn’t call the day after. Or the day after that. Or even the week after that and Jared realises that he  _misses_  him. He thinks about maybe calling but...he doesn’t want it seem as though he’s pining or something, even though he pretty  much is.  There’s a surprising moment when he and Aimee are watching Finding Nemo for what seems likethe thousandth time and she looks up at him and says,  
  
“Jens!” it’s so random and startling that Jared can’t help chuckling at her softly.  
  
Hell, even Aimee misses Jensen.  
  
~*~  
  
Later that evening there’s a knock on the door and Jared groans to himself quietly. It’s pretty late and he’s literally just dropped down on his couch after tidying up. He closes his eyes and hopes that whoever’s out there gets the message but there’s a more insistent knock and he goes to answer it.  
  
It’s Jensen.  
  
“Hi,” he says kind of breathlessly. “I just kind of stupidly ran all the way over here”.  
  
“Uh, come in,” Jared says because what else is he supopsed to say? “I’ll get you a glass of water”.  
  
“Look, I wanted to apologise,” Jensen says once he’s downed the entire glass. “For not calling you like I said I would”. Jared nods to himself because he hadn’t expected Jensen to call. Not when he had so much baggage in his life. Who’d want to take that on when they could carry on living their peace free lives. He’d been kind of hurt at first, and a little angry. At himself mostly for kissing Jensen in the first place. Hurt for not being as focused on his child as he should have been over the past few weeks.  
  
“No worries.” He shrugs as he leans back into the couch, his eyes firmly on Jensen. Jensen pulls a face as he turns so that he’s facing Jared.  
  
“Don’t,” he replies. “Don’t act like you’re okay with it because I can tell that you’re not”.  
  
“Really?” Jared asks. “I’m just that guy with a kid who’s barely a year old who brings in his books late all the time. You don’t know a thing about me.” It’s true Jared realises, they don’t  know a thing about each other. Sure, they’d have to learn all of that gradually if they ever dated but he’s not sure if he can handle another rejection. And he hates that his insecurities are flaring up once again.  
  
“That’s not true,” Jensen says sadly. “And I know that you’re just upset but that’s pretty presumptious of you”  
  
“Jensen...”  
  
“It’s okay, I get it. I came here to tell that I’m ready to give this – whatever this is – a chance and I took my time deciding and...it’s only fair that I give you the same liberty that you gave me”. Before Jared can even think up a response,  Jensen’s up and out of the door and he’s left with a lingering sense of dread in his stomach.  
  
~*~  
  
In the end, the choice is pretty easy. He shows up at the library with some random crime novel he’d taken out some day last week when he wanted to catch a glimpse of Jensen. Surprisingly, Jensen hadn’t even been working that day and Jared had found himself feeling a little disheartened. But he’d come to realise that, if you wanted something in life...you couldn’t give up. You had to take your chances and make a stand.  
  
“Jared.” Jensen sounds surprised to see him, and he looks it too. There’s a tinge of hopefulness in his eyes and Jared can’t help smiling.  
  
“Hey!” Jared says cheerfully. “I’d like to return this book please”.  
  
“Uh, sure,” Jensen says as he takes the book and scans it, his eyes flicking across the screen. “It’s not due for another week, you know that right?”  
  
“I do.” Jared says with a smile.  
  
“And did you finish reading it?” Jensen asks.  
  
“Didn’t even make it past chapter two.”  
  
“This is supposed to mean something right?” Jensen asks with this adorable, confused look on his face.  
  
“This...” Jared draws it out a little because the look on Jensen’s face really is too cute for words. “Is my grand declaration”. Jensen’s face breaks out into a bright grin right after the realisation hits him.  
  
“Are you sure?” he asks. “You know, it’d be wrong of me to not make you pay your late fees if you’re my boyfriend”.  
  
“Me and Aimee have already started up our library fines jar,” Jared grins. “Right now it has 5 cents in it.”  
  
“Well then,” Jensen says right before he hops over the desk, not seeming to care that he sends a stack of books flying onto the floor. “I think it’s time for me to do this” and he leans forward and pulls Jared closer and kisses him so hard that Jared’s a little breathless when they eventually come up for air.  
  
Maybe it’s high time that he starts bringing his books in on time.  
  
 **Fin.**  
  
  
Thank you for reading  <3.  
  
 _P.S._[ ** __**](http://ace-p.livejournal.com/profile) ** _[ace_p](http://ace-p.livejournal.com/)_** _pointed out that I left the Sarah thing too open ended and I sort of agree. Right now I have an idea for a second conclusive part but I don't want to say that I'll definitely be posting anything...but I am considering it._  
  
  



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